


Hyacinth

by quassia



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Developing Relationship, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 22:04:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2286018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quassia/pseuds/quassia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jealously is never the best way to reveal to someone that you like them. But Souda’s a real expert at not getting a clue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hyacinth

“Why the hell do you gotta talk about Sonia all the time? Did you forget how I’m always here with you?! You fucking idiot!”

Kuzuryuu had said that to him earlier, shortly before storming off in a fury (and also kicking one of his chairs on his way out and breaking the leg off of it entirely, the bastard). Souda has yet to recover. He sits, blank-faced and blank-eyed, staring into space as his brain attempts to reconcile what it was that Kuzuryuu said to him. Wait, no, why is he thinking about it so hard? It’s weird, right? It’s weird! It should… be weird.

Because… that was like a confession, right? He’s not overthinking it?

A moment passes. Several. Minutes more. This is how he lost the majority of his afternoon.

“Nnnnnnnhhhh,” Souda grits out and stands up abruptly.

No more. He can’t think anymore. If he does, his brain is going to just explode or melt or something else that he doesn’t want happening to his brain. He moves to the door to the room, yanking it open and storming outside. The outside is blessedly quiet save for the distant sound of waves, and he can only assume that people are off doing their own things.

_What’s Kuzuryuu doin’?_

It unnerves him that that’s the first question that comes into his brain. Not _where’s Sonia-san_ or _where’s Hinata_ but Kuzuryuu. Kuzuryuu… who’s hung around him a lot. And keeps hanging around with him, day by day. Before Souda knew it, he’d gotten used to him, gotten used to snipping back and forth, quarreling with him, talking with him, spending time together at the beach, the store, working or playing or anything else.

Souda walks and walks and walks until he can step off of the path and make his way onto the beach. The sand crunches under his heels as he wanders to the edge of the water, just shy of the waves. He looks out at the glossy, glistening blue ocean, as though it’s somehow going to answer or provide some reassurance to his crisis.

 _His_ crisis? Wait… why is it a crisis? Kuzuryuu’s just…

His mind pulls a blank where the answer should come immediately.

A what? A friend? Yeah… yeah, by now they should be friends. However…there’s something inherently _wrong_ about that. It isn’t that Kuzuryuu’s from the yakuza, isn’t a question of _his_ character, but given what he said earlier… Obviously Kuzuryuu doesn’t think of him as _just_ a friend.

Souda frowns abruptly and looks down, one hand lifting to clutch at the material of his boiler suit, above his heart that just thumped, abruptly hard, skipped a beat. Just when he thought that Kuzuryuu didn’t think of him as a friend, that he thought of Souda as more, maybe even liked and loved him or something like—

“Whoa,” Souda gasps and shakes his head hard, hand pressing harder to his chest, “stop, oi. Stop, stop. That’s definitely…” Not the case? But how else was he supposed to take what Kuzuryuu said?

As a friend? Was he jealous as a friend? Of Souda talking about Sonia all the time?

It’s not like it could be helped. She’s a perfect princess! Naturally, he’s going to like her. Naturally, he’s going to like… His mind blanks and for some reason veers toward Kuzuryuu again, a memory of him leaning closer, interested, prodding at whatever Souda’s working on, the way he grins broad and bright but can smirk and make Souda feel like smacking him with a pillow.

“That’s too weird.”

Souda slumps heavily, falling into a sitting position in the sand and gathering his knees up toward his chest. He reaches down, hooking his fingers in the back of his sneakers to tug them off, to curl his toes in the warm sand before pushing them down to the damper line, where he can feel the waves lapping over his feet. Cool. Comfortable. Like he feels when Kuzuryuu is around.

He sighs and puts his face down in his knees, closing his eyes.

Ugh… what the hell is he supposed to do?

 

* * *

 

_I can’t believe I actually did it._

Kuzuryuu speeds away from Souda’s cottage, his heart thundering in his chest, his mind racing a mile a minute. His cheeks are flushed bright red, far darker than his usual blush, and he’s sure he’s breaking out into a panicked sweat as he hurries quickly along, turning out from the hotel.

He doesn’t think about where he’s going. He just needs to go, because his blood is still boiling and he’s furious, but not at Souda, particularly.

No, wait, he’s fucking pissed at Souda. Of course he is.

Every day he prattles on and on about Sonia. Even while he’s talking about how much he’s glad Kuzuryuu’s his friend nowadays or when he’s ribbing and teasing him, somehow it always circles back to _Sonia_. And it’s not her fault, of course not; she never asked to be on the unfortunate receiving end of Souda’s affections (even if that unfortunate receiving end is just where _Kuzuryuu_ would like to be). Nope, it’s all Souda’s fault. He’s such an idiot. A blind idiot.

“Damn it, fuck, son of a bitch…!”

He doesn’t even realise he’s cursing as much as he is as he storms along the road, over the bridge to the central island. He needs to just… hit something. Or scream angrily.

In fury and embarrassment at himself, for finally giving in to those ugly feelings of jealousy, insecurity, frustration over how Souda can’t see anything that’s _in front of his eyes_. But, a voice in the back of Kuzuryuu’s head says, of course he wouldn’t. Kuzuryuu’s just a friend to Souda. A real friend. The fact that Kuzuryuu—for some reason _he_ can’t even make sense of except of course he could, he could name every bit of Souda that he fell for—likes him doesn’t even occur. It isn’t so much as a blip on his radar. It’s fucking depressing along with infuriating.

Kuzuryuu seethes, gnashes his teeth, stops to hurl a stone angrily out over the bridge, not satisfied at all at the anticlimactic plop of the stone in the water.

He slows his steps and looks back over his shoulder.

No-one.

Of course Souda wouldn’t follow, either. This thought isn’t so much angry as resigned, a confirmation of something that Kuzuryuu already knew. Yeah… he knew. And yet he couldn’t stop himself from feeling this way toward Souda anyway. He brings his hand up to his face, his fingers dragging down over it as a frustrated sigh gusts out of him.

He’s…disappointed.

In himself. In Souda. Mostly in himself.

Kuzuryuu moves to the edge of the bridge and plops down heavily, sticking out his legs to dangle over it, leaning back on his hands. Ahh.

What the hell is he supposed to do?

 

* * *

 

Habit brings them gathering together at the hotel restaurant every morning, without fail. The only exception are on days where one of them is sick…and at those times, they usually all swarm over to the cottage of the person in question once they notice one of their number is missing. When worries have been assuaged, they reconvene at the restaurant and chatter away, pondering how to take care of their unluckily ill friend.

Souda comes close to being the worried-over party this morning when he trudges up the stairs late, dark circles under his eyes and his hair a mess (but hidden under his hat). Hinata gives him a surprised look when he collapses into a seat at a table and unceremoniously lets his forehead thud against the surface.

“Souda? You all right?”

“No,” muffled, into the table, “leave me alone…”

He hears Hinata’s skeptical hum over the top of his head. “If you’re not feeling well, go back to your cottage, okay? –oh, Kuzuryuu, good, we’re all here now.”

Souda’s head swings up lightning fast and he stares, meeting Kuzuryuu’s eyes. A minute crawls by with them staring at each other, staring, two animals facing off, silent and tense and bristling… and Souda is bunching his muscles in preparation of flight when… Kuzuryuu beats him to it.

“Sorry, gonna pass today,” he mutters to Hinata and quickly turns back toward the stairs.

Souda slams his hands against the table as he surges to his feet, the chair clattering back on the floor and the others stare as he stomps after Kuzuryuu. “Oi! You get back here! I gotta talk to you!” he’s shouting as he hurries down the stairs, glimpsing only Kuzuryuu’s retreating back (how the hell is he so fast) as he goes outside.

“Fuck off!”

Souda reels, stung by the words, before he flushes angrily.

“You’re really mixin’ this up, idiot! Isn’t it me who’s supposed to be runnin’ away right about now?! Where the hell do you think you’re going! Kuzuryuu!”

“Shut up, asshole, I don’t have anything to say to you!”

Something snaps in Souda’s brain and he speeds his steps, circling the pool toward the door leading from the hotel, closer and closer to Kuzuryuu. Evidently, Kuzuryuu notices, as he speeds his own pace, speeds—until he’s running and Souda splutters indignantly. He’s totally getting their positions messed up here! Wait, for that matter, why is he chasing? Souda didn’t spend too long thinking on it in the restaurant, but really, it’s strange that he’s chasing after Kuzuryuu like this.

But… he feels a little afraid, somehow. Like if he doesn’t chase now, something will go wrong…

Er, that said, various things have already gone wrong.

Souda shakes his head furiously and concentrates, dashing after Kuzuryuu full force. The only thing that lets him catch up to him—at the beach by the bridge—is that, when it comes down to it… his legs are longer between the two of them. He reaches out, grabbing at Kuzuryuu’s wrist, earning an angry shout as Kuzuryuu half-turns, his free arm lashing up as though about to sock him in the face. Unfortunately (and fortunately because a punch would’ve hurt), Souda’s still running and runs right into _him_ , sending them both back into an unhappy pile of black and pink and yellow into the sand.

“Get _off_ ,” Kuzuryuu growls as Souda flattens his weight over him, stubborn now, avoiding a flailing arm.

“Like hell! Why’d you run away from me?!”

Kuzuryuu looks up at him, just as stubborn, angry, and even… hurt? Is Souda imagining it? He scans his face again and Kuzuryuu turns his head pointedly to one side, thwarting his attempts to read him.

“Why’d you chase me?”

“Well, I—”

Souda stops. He frowns. Faced with the question he asked himself and couldn’t figure out, he doesn’t know how to answer Kuzuryuu.

“…Why’d you chase me today and not yesterday?”

Souda twitches, his fingers curling in sand to one side of Kuzuryuu’s body. Kuzuryuu’s not squirming around anymore. His head is turned to one side and he’s looking out, toward the water, frowning, and something about that _tone_ , that stung tone like Souda’s already messed up something important.

“I… uh…”

“If you can’t answer, get off of me already.” Kuzuryuu looks up at him, and Souda is struck by the look on his face, a look he’s never had to see before. Hurt. Angry and hurt.

“N—No way. If I do that, then you’re gonna keep bein’ mad at me and avoidin’ me, ain’t you?!”

“I’m not mad… at you,” Kuzuryuu says, his expression tense. “I’m just mad. And I don’t want to talk to you. So get off…”

“Why not? Oi, you’re the one who started it, sayin’ that stuff out of the blue…”

Kuzuryuu squirms in the sand, moves, managing to half-rise and eliciting a yelp from Souda. “ _You’re_ the one at fault here! Hurry up and recognise when you’ve done something wrong—” It’s what he starts saying, his cheeks flushed and his eyes vaguely shiny-looking, before he stops, clenches his jaw, shakes his head. “No… tch. You’re right. It’s my own fault. I’ll deal with it on my own.”

His hand plants against Souda’s chest, pushing, but Souda resists, pushes back against that hand.

“Did yesterday mean what I think it meant?”

“…What do you think?”

Kuzuryuu’s bowed his head, and Souda can picture his stubborn expression and it makes something sting to be pushed back now that they’ve gotten so close to each other. More than that, it feels terrible to be the cause, somehow, of this… if not the cause himself, then he’s done something and ended up hurting this guy and…

“I think it did, so lemme think about it,” is what Souda finally says and Kuzuryuu’s face lifts, his mouth hanging open, full slack-jawed surprise in all its glory. It’s the first time Souda thinks he’s seen that look on Kuzuryuu and he feels weirdly smug.

The surprise disappears, though, and Kuzuryuu’s expression hardens, closes off, much like it had been back when they’d first all met each other. “I don’t want your fucking pity,” he says sharply, and Souda’s the one whose mouth is falling open this time around. “If you think it’s gross and that you don’t want anything to do with it, then just hurry up and say it. I don’t want some false hope from you, idiot.”

“When I said I’ll think about it, I mean I’ll think about it,” Souda bursts out, flushing angrily. “You expect me to know if I like you too just like that?! It ain’t that easy for me! You’ve already figured it out!” Kuzuryuu blushes too, at that ‘like’ word. “So give me some time to sort out my feelings, stupid!”

“Who’re you calling stupid, stupid!”

After his shout, Kuzuryuu’s expression softens again, not as hard, closed or with that hurt that lingered behind his eyes. Souda’s shoulders fall with a relief he’d never tell Kuzuryuu about and he glances down, at the hand at his chest that pushes him again. He shimmies off of Kuzuryuu’s legs, letting him sit up and watching him sigh, picking grains of sand from his shirt cuffs.

“A little while… all right? Don’t take too long.”

He looks at Souda with pinched eyebrows and a deep frown and he does his best to seem tough, Souda thinks, and not show that he’s worried. Because he’s probably worried, isn’t he?

“A—Aa.” Souda has trouble answering for a moment, caught up in sudden and strange thoughts (or perhaps not so strange after all) of how cute Kuzuryuu is. “’Course.”

 

* * *

 

The next day is normal and beautiful and clear and Souda walks up the stairs to the restaurant in oddly high spirits. Spirits that’re hiked up further as he glances over, meets Kuzuryuu’s gaze and gets one of his smiles and a “morning,” and promptly feels as though he’s worth more yen than he could ever earn.

Of course, then he spies Sonia and he’s gone.

The group watches with that patented exasperation, Hinata just beginning to contemplate intervening when Kuzuryuu stands up from his chair with a clatter and a slam of his hand on the top of his table that makes everyone except Owari (far too preoccupied with breakfast) and Souda (far too preoccupied with Sonia) jump. He storms over, stomping all the way, until he’s right behind Souda and circling an arm around his neck, hand gripping at the underside of his chin.

Souda yelps, losing his balance before Kuzuryuu steadies the chair with a hard jab of his foot, and he finds himself looking—upside-down—at Kuzuryuu’s furious face, steered in place by that tight hand.

“I’m giving you time,” he says very softly and very deliberately and very scarily, “but if you fuck around I’ll mess you up.”

“Uh,” Souda replies, eloquently, and feels himself flush as one of Kuzuryuu’s fingers presses down along his throat. Here is where he should be scared and flailing and otherwise fearing for his life, but all he can feel is a dull heat in his body and a roaring in his ears at Kuzuryuu’s look, dark and stormy and somehow heady and _god_ he really is jealous, isn’t he? “R-right. I humbly apologise, Kuzuryuu-san. I’ll be careful from now on.”

Kuzuryuu snorts and lets go of his chin (but not before touching, soft, along his throat with one finger again, enough to cause a shiver that should be fear but is probably more like a weird thrill) and gives one of Souda’s chair legs a (affectionate?) kick. Souda whines a “hey” of protest but then slumps down on the table, burying his face in his arms while Sonia looks between them both, politely baffled and grateful both to be freed from the weight of Souda’s attention.

Returning to his chair, Kuzuryuu crashes down into it and frowns, catching Hinata’s eye and jerking his head. _Get a move on._

Hinata clears his throat. “…Anyway, let’s get started.”


End file.
